15 49.0138 8.38624 1 0 4000 1 http://dellybird.co.uk 300

The Sisterhood: A Love Letter to the Women Who Have Shaped Me by Daisy Buchanan- Book Review

*I was lucky enough to be gifted an advanced reader copy of The Sisterhood from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.*

Title: The Sisterhood: A Love Letter to the Women Who Have Shaped Me

Author: Daisy Buchanan

Published: 7th March 2019

Publisher: Headline

Genre(s): Nonfiction, Women’s Literature, Feminist Literature

Goodreads: Add me!

Amazon: Affiliate link*


Book Review

The Sisterhood: A Love Letter to the Women Who Have Shaped Me is Daisy Buchanan’s thought provoking memoir. It explores her relationships with her sisters as well as offering insights into being a woman in modern society. Daisy shares stories from her childhood through to her adult years, which are both touching and hilarious in equal measure.


Childhood

The Sisterhood rips apart the air-brushed, often naive portrayals of sisterhood we so often see in literature and the media. Instead we are shown the reality of navigating growing up alongside other women. It can be a hot mess of emotions, hormones and personalities that don’t always fit together. There are many stories from Daisy’s childhood that made me laugh out loud.

As I have a sister of my own, parts of The Sisterhood reminded me of stories from my childhood. I once spent hours painstakingly drawing a picture of my sister only to convert it into a no entry sign to my bedroom after a particular argument. As an adult of 30ish, my sister destroyed most of her childhood diaries as they contained ‘too much evidence’ against her regarding our fights as children. After reading Daisy’s accounts I do now have a new appreciation for the role of eldest sibling. I can see many similarities between her & my elder sister!


Honesty

Daisy writes with a rare, refreshing and ‘unflinching’ honesty. Her voice is warm and personal as she talks about her memories of growing up with her sisters.

I greatly admire Daisy for voicing the thoughts and feelings that so many women, especially sisters, posses but never feel that they can share for fear of judgement. We can all relate to those feelings of loneliness, anger and jealousy. Our emotions don’t need to be validated but I think if we all opened up a little more we would realise that we are normal. We are not alone. Ours is often a shared narrative with our sisters of choice as well as blood.


Sisterhood

One of the most important aspects of The Sisterhood is how it discusses the sisterhood as a collective. Daisy does a fantastic job of describing how we need to break the competitive cycle that is far too often put down to women being naturally ‘bitchy’. We are in a society that tells us we must compete with each other for our own space. That we must be prettier, thinner, more intelligent or better in a magnitude of other ways if we ever want to be truly happy. The Sisterhood talks about how instead we can prop each other up, shape each others lives and how we need to cut ourselves some slack as well as each other. Sisterhood shouldn’t stifle individuality.


My Thoughts

The Sisterhood: A Love Letter to the Women Who Have Shaped Me is the best nonfiction book and piece of feminist literature that I have read in a long time. It has been carefully and thoughtfully put together. I appreciate the honesty in which it has been created. The book is intimate, emotive and highly relatable. If you like feminist literature, have female siblings or would like an insight into what it is really like to live in a house full of women then you should pick up The Sisterhood without hesitation.


*This post contains my Amazon affiliate link. It costs nothing extra to use but I may earn a small commission for purchases made, which would help to support my blog. Thank you for your support.*

Share:
Category:Beautiful Books
PREVIOUS POST
Top Picks – New Book Releases March 2019
NEXT POST
Six for Sunday – 2 for 1 Audiobook Offer

18 Comments

  • 9th March 2019 at 5:04 am

    I rarely read non fiction books, but this is something to look out for. I am intrigued!

    REPLY
    • 25th March 2019 at 11:19 am
      Dellybird

      The themes are really important, which is why I think it is a good book even for non fiction readers. I rarely read memoirs and I am so pleased I read this one.

      REPLY
  • 9th March 2019 at 8:26 am

    This really sounds like a great book!

    REPLY
    • 25th March 2019 at 11:18 am
      Dellybird

      It is! I highly recommend it. Thanks for commenting ๐Ÿ™‚

      REPLY
  • 11th March 2019 at 10:49 am

    I saw this book not long ago and though to pick it up but didn’t! You have persuaded me too!

    REPLY
    • 25th March 2019 at 11:18 am
      Dellybird

      Yay, please let me know how you get on and if you review it feel free to share a link here ๐Ÿ™‚

      REPLY
  • 11th March 2019 at 11:56 am

    I loved your sisterhood stories ๐Ÿ˜€ I have a sister too, but we never lived together (she’s from dad’s earlier marriage and sadly later moved to another country altogether). So I can’t relate to a lot of these things, but this would be a super interesting read, I feel like!

    REPLY
    • 25th March 2019 at 11:17 am
      Dellybird

      Thanks ๐Ÿ™‚ My sister is very funny! It is a shame that you had to live apart. I think you would still enjoy reading the book as it talks about sisterhood as a concept as well as literal sisterhood. It is very much a book about how women perceive and treat each other. There are some really interesting ideas in there that I hadn’t thought about before.

      REPLY
  • 13th March 2019 at 10:17 am
    bookloverkate

    I’m not a big non fiction reader but the themes in this sound really interesting!

    REPLY
    • 25th March 2019 at 11:14 am
      Dellybird

      It really is great and I loved Daisy’s voice. She had me giggling a lot. The themes are really interesting and she explores ideas in a very unique way. One chapter talks about how women are perceived in King Lear and Cinderella. It is a comparison which I did not expect but makes a lot of sense. I really do recommend reading it ๐Ÿ™‚

      REPLY
  • 14th March 2019 at 6:38 am

    Wow! Sounds like this one is a good read! I would love to read this one. Great review!

    REPLY
    • 25th March 2019 at 11:15 am
      Dellybird

      It really is and a definitely recommend grabbing a copy! Thank you for commenting ๐Ÿ™‚

      REPLY
  • 19th March 2019 at 8:50 am

    Lovely review! I bet it’s a life-affirming read. Is it quite similar to Dolly Alderton’s Everything I know about Love?

    REPLY
    • 19th March 2019 at 9:18 am
      Dellybird

      I haven’t actually read that one yet but I would like to. Did you enjoy it? I am sure they will have a similar vibe to each other. One of the best things about the book is that it helps you recognise that no-one is perfect & that it is important to be yourself. Life affirming is a good description ๐Ÿ™‚

      REPLY
  • 19th March 2019 at 2:38 pm

    I’m honestly not into non fiction, but I’m glad you enjoyed this!

    REPLY
    • 25th March 2019 at 11:09 am
      Dellybird

      Thank you. I am honestly not a non fiction person either but for some reason this one grabbed me and I am really pleased I read it.

      REPLY
  • 21st March 2019 at 12:12 pm

    This is definitely my kind of read, it sounds fantastic ๐Ÿ˜Š

    REPLY
    • 25th March 2019 at 11:06 am
      Dellybird

      It is a great book and that is coming from someone who normally actively avoids nonfiction memoirs. If you pick it up I hope you love it!

      REPLY

Leave a Reply